1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hair grooming clipper attachments and, more particularly, is concerned with a vacuum attachment for mounting to a hair grooming clipper and a method of converting a hair grooming clipper to mount a vacuum attachment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To obviate concerns of professional dog groomers with breathing of fine dog hair and other foreign matter in the lungs, vacuum systems are often employed with hair grooming clippers. Typically, a vacuum system includes a suction head that is attached to a hand-held clipper adjacent to its cutting head mechanism and is connected to one end of a flexible hose. The other end of the hose is connected directly or via an intermediate conduit to a vacuum generating unit for creating a vacuum in the hose. The vacuum condition draws air into the hose through the suction head, entraining hair cuttings in the air flow through the hose to the vacuum generating unit where the hair cuttings are collected, typically, in a container.
Attachments have been developed over the years which provide a vacuum system for the disposal of hair cuttings from the clippers. Highly effective prior art vacuum attachments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,088,199 and 5,881,462 to Romani. These prior art vacuum attachments introduced features which operate to remove hair clippings in a highly effective way. However, to employ these vacuum attachments on particular prior art clippers the design of these attachments followed one of two approaches.
Under the first approach followed in the design of the vacuum attachment of U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,199, externally-exposed fastening elements already provided on the particular prior art clipper for other purposes were used to mount the vacuum attachment. However, a disadvantage of this first approach is that it cannot be followed with respect to those prior art clippers with no externally-exposed fastening elements.
Under the second approach followed in the design of the vacuum attachment of U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,462, with respect to prior art clippers having no such eternally-exposed fastening elements the design of the vacuum attachment was conformed to the external configuration of the particular prior art clipper so as to allow it to be adhesively fastened thereto. However, a disadvantage of this second approach is that it effects a more or less permanent alteration of the prior art clipper which cannot easily be reversed should that become desirable to do so later on.
Consequently, there is a need for a third approach to the design of a vacuum attachment that will take advantage of both internal and external fastening features of a particular prior art clipper without effecting a permanent modification of the prior art clipper.
The present invention provides a vacuum attachment and a method of converting a hair grooming clipper to mount the vacuum attachment which are both designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The vacuum attachment is adapted for mounting to the hair grooming clipper and a portion of the hair grooming clipper is adapted to be converted to a state of setup to accommodate mounting the vacuum attachment to it.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a vacuum attachment for use with a hair grooming clipper. The vacuum attachment comprises: (a) a conduit body for mounting on a forward end of a casing of a hair grooming clipper adjacent to front cutting blades of a cutting head mechanism of the clipper, the conduit body defining and enclosing an internal air flow passage extending between inlet and outlet ends of the conduit body such that when the conduit body is mounted on the forward end of the casing of the clipper a flow of hair cuttings entrained in air can be drawn from the front cutting blades of the cutting head mechanism of the clipper via the inlet end of the conduit body through the passage thereof to an external hose coupled to the outlet end of the conduit body; (b) a pair of mounting wings integrally and externally formed on the conduit body and extending from opposite sides of the conduit body such that the mounting wings and a portion of the conduit body extending between the mounting wings define a replacement cover that can substitute for and replace an original equipment cover removably provided on the forward end of the casing of the clipper in order to enclose an opening in the casing through which is exposed the cutting head mechanism of the clipper; and (c) means for detachably fastening the mounting wings to the forward end of the casing of the clipper.
The present invention also is directed to a method of converting a hair grooming clipper to mount a vacuum attachment. The converting method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a vacuum attachment including a conduit body and mounting wings integrally and externally formed thereon, the conduit body enclosing an internal air flow passage extending between inlet and outlet ends of the conduit body such that when the vacuum attachment is mounted on a forward end of a casing of a hair grooming clipper a flow of hair cuttings entrained in air can be drawn from front cutting blades of a cutting head mechanism of the clipper via the inlet end of the conduit body through the passage thereof to an external hose coupled to the outlet end of the conduit body; (b) removing from the forward end of the casing of the clipper an original equipment cover removably provided thereon adjacent to the cutting head mechanism to expose an opening in the forward end of the casing overlying the cutting head mechanism; (c) installing the conduit body on the forward end of the casing of the clipper so as to close the opening therein with a replacement cover, formed by the mounting wings and a portion of the conduit body extending between the mounting wings, that can substitute for and replace the original equipment cover removed from the forward end of the casing of the clipper in order to enclose the opening in the forward end of the casing of the clipper; and (d) detachably fastening the mounting wings to the forward end of the casing of the clipper.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.